Westmeath were ruthless when it mattered 

FOR about 30 minutes in Mullingar, Laois were hanging in. They had weathered an early Westmeath storm, responded with a few well-taken points, and looked set to trail by a manageable margin at half-time. Then came the first hammer blow.

With five minutes to go before the break, Laois were only four points down. But in the space of a few short moments, the entire tone of the game changed, and with it, Laois’s season fell apart.

First, Shane Allen was fouled in the square, and Luke Loughlin lashed the resulting penalty into the top corner. A quick point from Stephen Smith followed, and then came the sucker punch. Loughlin again at the centre of things, turning provider this time, teeing up Ronan Wallace to palm home a second goal on the cusp of the interval.

A manageable four-point deficit suddenly became an 11-point mountain. Laois were shell-shocked, trudging into the dressing room at 2-12 to 0-7 down. Justin McNulty admitted afterwards that the goals before half-time were a “huge body blow”, and the pain was only beginning.

Westmeath came back out after the break and took complete control. The pace, power and precision they brought in a devastating seven-minute spell simply overwhelmed Laois. Any thoughts of a fightback were extinguished as Wallace clipped over a point before Whittaker smashed in their third goal. Loughlin, Wallace and Joseph Moran added to the tally with quickfire scores.

That purple patch saw Westmeath rack up 1-5 without reply, and effectively book their place in the quarter-finals long before the final whistle.

The most impressive aspect of Westmeath’s performance wasn’t just their ability to score, it was when and how they did it. Big players stepped up at the key moments, particularly Sam McCartan and Ronan Wallace. The latter contributed 1-5 from centre-back on the day, simply outstanding.

Laois, in contrast, had no answer to Westmeath’s clinical finishing and ferocious intensity. Their own scoring bursts came too late, and even Jonah Kelly’s late goal after the hooter only served to reduce the margin slightly on what was a bruising day for the O’Moore men.

In total, Laois conceded 3-26, a stark reflection of the chasm between the sides on the day. It wasn’t just the scoreboard that told the story, but the timing and ferocity of the Westmeath surges that did the real damage. Moments win matches, and Laois let the biggest ones pass them by.

The curtain now falls on Laois’s 2025 inter-county season, and the inquest will no doubt continue. But for now, credit must go to Westmeath; they were ruthless when it mattered, and that was more than enough.